1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to computer networks, and more specifically to efficient determination of fast routes when voluminous data is to be sent from a single node to many destination nodes via other intermediate nodes.
2. Related Art
There is often a need to determine routes from a source node to several destination nodes. For example, a presenter of a seminar may use a digital processing system (source node) to transmit data to multiple digital processing systems (destination nodes) used by various attendees on a network. To transfer the data from the source node to the destination nodes, it may be desirable to determine routes from the source node to the destination nodes.
Data to be delivered from a source node to destination nodes may be sent over a route spanning one or more intermediate nodes and paths connecting the nodes. For example, a source node may send data to a first destination node via a first path (in which case the path is the route), which may then forward the received data to one or more other destination nodes via corresponding paths. The route to such other destination nodes would thus contain the first destination node, the first path as well as the corresponding path(s) to the corresponding destination node.
It is desirable to determine routes which are fast (i.e., complete data transfer quickly) from a source node to all the destination nodes. In the case a seminar needs to be interactive, each recipient may need to receive the presented data quickly so that the recipient can quickly present a question or a comment. Similarly, there could be other types of applications (e.g., games, financial applications, bids, etc.), which require that the data be delivered in close to real-time to the extent possible.
Such a requirement may be present in several instances when voluminous (large amount) data is to be transmitted from a source node to multiple destination nodes.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.